A new California law went into effect this week mandating that major retail stores offer a gender-neutral toy section in place of - or an addition to - their boys and girls' stuff.
Now, if you have found yourself thinking, why the heck should the government get involved in that? Join the club. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever on God‘s green earth that is explicable to a decent minded person with common sense that the taxpayer funded government should care about mandating a store - a non-governmental business - offer a gender-neutral section for the extreme minority in our society who can’t simply glance down at their nether regions and figure out whether they are a boy or a girl. After all, it's not as though boys are currently banned from the My Little Pony aisle, nor are little girls forbidden from checking out the Nerf guns.
In fact, it boggles the mind to imagine why in the world a bunch of politicians living in a state with crippling crime rates, high levels of illegal immigration, a homeless crisis, rampant drug and substance abuse, and a failing education system would spend one iota of their time worrying about whether or not Macy's has enough innocuous stackable rings next to their Barbies and Hot Wheels.
I'm sure Target's already got it covered.
And yet, this is California. So here we are. The newly effective law was initially passed by state Democrats and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom back in 2021, and levies a fine of $250 for first offenders that increases to $500 for repeat violations.
Related: Study: DC Mandates Cost Small Biz $50K PER EMPLOYEE in 2022
According to the bill's sponsor, this whole taxpayer-money-sucking enterprise, which will now force thousands of retailers across the state to construct entirely new sections of their store, was inspired by one lone child who didn't understand why toys are divided up into areas aimed at certain genders (the answer? To help out exhausted and time-pressed parents who, up until recently, didn't concern themselves with whether little Johnny felt like June and wanted to wear a tutu).
“I was inspired to introduce this bill after 8-year-old Britten asked, ‘Why should a store tell me what a girl’s shirt or toy is?’” California Assembly member Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley) said in a statement, referring to the daughter of one of his staffers. “Her bill will help children express themselves freely and without bias. We need to let kids be kids.”
The new law doesn't apply to clothing (yet), but does include non-toy items like toothbrushes and toiletries in stores and retail chains with over 500 employees.
Thank God this crisis has finally been solved. There are homeless tent cities on fire and looters are still smashing in mall windows and making off with hundreds of thousands' worth of stolen stuff, but hey - little Susie won't feel relegated to the Polly Pocket aisle anymore.
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Oregon High School cancels “family friendly” drag show after allegedly receiving threats. Whether the threats are true or not it's easy to see why parents would have an issue with men wiggling around in dresses in front of their children.https://t.co/pRLEC64XXA
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